msg: `While You Were Out' Messages with comp

The messages you send with comp don't need to have fields like
cc: and Subject: in the headers.
As long as you have To:, your message should get there.
(The other header fields should follow rules in RFC 822.)

For instance, here's a program that receptionists might want.
It uses prompter to take phone and other messages, then sends
them via email.
This version of comp is called msg.

The date, time, and person who took the message are added automatically by MH.
The draft template file uses Fcc: to automatically keep a copy of
all messages sent.
msg is nice for messages to busy people who aren't at their desks but
are close to terminals -- or who can't check their mailboxes for slips of
paper -- or who want to track their messages electronically.

As prompter shows each empty field from that file, the
receptionist can either fill it in with a name or number, type x after
it (to just include the field in the message), or leave it blank (and
prompter will delete the field).
This is a handy way to use prompter.

Add this entry to your MH profile, or add the arguments to your alias
or function:

msg: -form msgcomps -editor prompter

If you want to use the Fcc: msgs field to keep copies
of messages, as shown above, you might also want to add an
at(1)
or
cron(8)
job to clean up old messages.
The Section
Cleaning Up Old Messages shows the setup.

Some users don't want their phone messages mixed in with their other email.
If that's true, try one of these ideas:

Write a short shell script called getmsgs that uses
pick to find messages with the subject "While You Were Out...",
puts them in a sequence, shows them, and then either refiles or removes them.
For example:

Ask the system administrator to add the user to the system transfer
agent's alias file with a different address.
For instance, make an alias named joeb_msgs for the user joeb.
When people send him messages to
joeb_msgs, they'll be delivered to
his usual address (joeb), but the message header will say:

To: joeb_msgs

Other users can send Joe's phone messages to his special address,
even if they don't use the msg program.
Then it will be easy for Joe to find his messages
with MH tools like pick:

% pick -to joeb_msgs ...

You could make a little shell alias or shell program named something like
showmsgs that does this:

Your system administrator might make separate small accounts for users who
get messages this way.
Use a simple .login or .profile file that automatically shows
the messages, if any, then asks the user what to do with each message.
A shell script with a loop would do it.